Charity Essay

Analyse how social and cultural context can influence advertising. Use figure 3 to support your answer.
In your answer:
- Analyse how social and cultural influence advertising
- Make judgements and reach a conclusion on why they advertised in this way
(15 marks)
Advertising such as the shelter campaign are hard hitting and make audiences aware of life threatening problems happening in modern society such as homelessness which is being demonstrated in figure three.
By using a subject that is sensitive to some people and can affect many people lives one way or another it influences the importance of the advertisement and how people view it.
For example, in this advertisement, it showcases the damage things like debt and loosing a job can lead to. The people used in the advert look like normal everyday people. By illustrating them in this way, it pronounces the importance of the issue being raised in the advert.
The actors used in the campaign are looking directly at the camera with a concerned facial expression and the language used suggests that the main person in the posters is using direct address to almost communicate with the reader and get their attention to help them. This can also be seen in the type of language used such as "I can't face it" the negativity used represents that the woman is looking for help. They also use rhetorical questions to make the audience think about what they can do to help and to contribute to the social issue.
In the campaign, they use both male and females, that way they publicise that the problems could happen to anyone and that it's not just prone to one gender, it also takes away from the stereotypical thoughts of a homeless person as the people in the advert look like everyday people.
Shelter campaign use adults in their advert as they are more relatable to the target audience.
In conclusion, social and cultural context influence advertising by relating to the target audience and showcasing modern problems that are becoming more of an issue over time.